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The ‘Forwardable Email’ Is Your Best Networking Tool
It’s a more thoughtful way to make new connections
Let’s say you’re looking for a new opportunity. You’ve already scoured the online listings and put out feelers in your own professional network, and now you’re ready to take things a step further. You start asking around your social circle: “Do you happen to know anyone in my industry that you could connect me with?”
A friend might scroll through their contacts for you, but it’s likely you both know a lot of the same people already. Approaching an acquaintance is the better bet — in a classic 1974 study, the Stanford sociologist Mark Granovetter found that when it comes to finding out about job openings, “weak ties” are more important than strong ones.
But for someone you’re not especially close with, it’s a big ask: First, that acquaintance needs to think about whether they know anyone who works in your industry. Then, if they do come up with a name, they need to consider whether that person would be interested in talking to you. Then they need to write an entire introduction email from scratch.
There’s a better approach to asking someone for an introduction, one that I learned from the entrepreneur Matt Galligan: the forwardable email.
